- Seemingly godly prayers go largely unanswered because no godly action is taken.
In the autobiographical Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), Douglas says that he prayed for freedom for twenty years but God did not answer his prayers until he prayed with his legs.
It reminds me of that famous Latin phrase, ora et labora (pray AND work).
This Advent season, my church is working through the book of Ruth. The first chapter tells the story of Naomi losing her husband to death and then, to add more hardship to tragedy, her two sons. This leaves an older widow with two younger widows to fend for themselves in a world where having a man was critically important to the future. One of her daughters-in-law returns home, and Naomi is left with Ruth.
Naomi decides to head back home from Moab and arrives in Bethlehem. She was apparently tired and distraught, but Ruth is proactive; as the second chapter recounts, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him (Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s deceased husband) in whose sight I shall find favor.” It was a risk, of course. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what an apparently attractive young lady in a field of hard-working harvesters could lead to. But, risk and all, Ruth went.
In that act of service, she found favor with Boaz and came home with over nine gallons of barley, enough to feed the women for weeks. She further received the protection of the mighty Boaz and the promise of additional provision.
But that’s not all. The desperate effort to feed themselves (rather than simply sit at home, despondent over their need) led to marriage and, within a few generations, the greatest king of Israel’s history from whose line, as biblical genealogists know, came Jesus Himself.
All because of…God, of course– a God who moves through the proactive advance of Ruth into the risky fields of harvest.
From time to time, prayer movements and outpourings and revivals pop up in this nation and around the globe. Naturally, Christians find great hope in seeing God at work in these ways. But often these movements lack a long-term effect on the world around them. Seemingly godly prayers go largely unanswered because no godly action is taken. But going is essential to the spread of the Kingdom. As I often remind my students, “God can’t steer a parked car.”
Columnist Matthew Little describes what all this means for great white sharks. If one of them stops swimming, it will die. Its body doesn’t pump water through its gills. It apparently relies on water flowing through its open mouth and gills as it swims. No movement, no water flow, no oxygen: dead shark. Similar dynamics are true of Mako Sharks, tuna, certain species of rays, and, interestingly enough, but for different reasons, hummingbirds.
Not unlike these fish (and the birds), God’s people also need to move. It’s true physically—inactivity often leads to a decline in bodily health and sometimes in mental acuity. But for Christians, there is a spiritual lesson as well. If we remain sedentary, not cultivating the love of God and neighbor nor engaged in the Great Commission, our spiritual health will suffer, and we’ll miss the blessings that come from living in obedience to the Lord. And local churches should also take notice – internal movement is good and can help make disciples. But these same disciples need to move beyond the building to share their testimonies, help the poor, heal the sick, and, generally, “run to the sound of the pain.”
Movement (in the things that please God) is life.
Ruth knew it. She could have sat around with Naomi bemoaning the lack of a man…or she could get out there and move to address a serious need. And move she did.
And through it all, came Christmas.
